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Juniper School

Sustainable funding plan a first step

Schools of choice are a growing presence across the United States, in Colorado and in Durango. Based on the emerging theory that students possess a variety of learning styles that can be maximized through distinct educational models, charter schools have expanded educational offerings to match those various student needs locally, statewide and nationwide. Through public and private funding, these schools – when done well – complement the programs offered at public school districts. Launching an effective, viable and sustainable charter school is no small feat, requiring interest and investment from the community, a clear educational vision, and attainable budget, adequate public and private financial support and coordination with the school district. The Juniper School, a proposed K-5 charter school, is heading in the right direction, but is not ready to open as planned next August.

The Juniper School is a grass-roots project proposed by community educators and parents designed to provide an alternative to the educational model offered at Durango School District 9-R elementary schools. The school, whose charter would be held by 9-R, proposes to use a hybrid curriculum including elements of project-based learning, experiential learning, Montessori and others. More than 100 families have expressed interest in the school, which had planned to open with all six grades in the 2016-2017 school year, to be housed in the 9-R building where Big Picture High School is located. This was an ambitious scenario under any circumstances: Charter schools often phase in one grade per year, particularly in an unclear funding environment. But Juniper School advocates and Durango School District 9-R were operating under the assumption that the school would receive a $600,000 start-up grant, spread over three years, from the Colorado Department of Education. It did not, and relying on it cost the school and the district time that would have been better spent crafting a sustainable funding plan.

In its proposed budgets – one with full enrollment and a contingency plan with fewer students – the Juniper School included the start-up grant as secured funding, and the 9-R board of directors conditionally approved the school’s charter application in August – despite three recommendations against doing so from the district’s Advisory Accountability Committee, which was concerned about holes in the school’s application – including the presumption of receiving the state start-up grant.

Gretchen Morgan, director of the Colorado Department of Education’s Choice and Innovation Unit, said the grants are extremely competitive, and priorities adjust according to needs in the state. “In the last few years, the Request for Proposal has shifted to emphasize areas in which charter schools have not been performing as well as the rest of the schools in the state. For example, there is greater emphasis on postsecondary workforce readiness planning,” Morgan said.

That priority is well outside the focus of Juniper School, and therefore provides some explanation as to why the school did not receive the grant. Compounding it, Morgan said, was the school’s application score, which fell below the cutoff, prompting two additional reviews – one from an independent external review team, and another by CDE staff – both of which confirmed the initial review team’s findings.

This is an unfortunate setback for the Juniper School and the families that had relied on its opening next fall. However, it was a predictable one. “The Charter School Program grant has always been a competitive grant,” Morgan said. “We encourage schools to acknowledge the competitive nature of the grant and to plan for scenarios in which they both do and do not receive those funds.” The Juniper School’s proponents must address the latter scenario now.



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